Coolidge, Arizona

This day trip takes you “back to the future” with a full day of touring an ancient Native American ruin and then a space-age environment. As you approach Coolidge you will come to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, an eleven-room, eleven-family, 600-apartment building built by the ancient Hohokam and Pueblo Indian farmers. This structure was constructed of hardened mud blocks that are 5 feet long, 2 feet high, and 4 feet thick.
Columbia University has taken over Biosphere 2 and added a new educational and research dimension to this project. The university offers degree study programs and conferences on the site. The Earth Exploration Program joins Biosphere 2 Center scientists and Columbia University faculty and other leading educators and researchers meet with visitors to provide stimulating educational experiences at this self-contained, simulated “world.”

"This day trip takes you “back to the future” with a full day of touring an ancient Native American ruin and then a space-age environment. As you approach Coolidge you will come to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, an eleven-room, eleven-family, 600-apartment building built by the ancient Hohokam and Pueblo Indian farmers. This structure was constructed of hardened mud blocks that are 5 feet long, 2 feet high, and 4 feet thick.

Columbia University has taken over Biosphere 2 and added a new educational and research dimension to this project. The university offers degree study programs and conferences on the site. The Earth Exploration Program joins Biosphere 2 Center scientists and Columbia University faculty and other leading educators and researchers meet with visitors to provide stimulating educational experiences at this self-contained, simulated “world.”"

--Pam Hait, Day Trips from Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff (The Globe Pequot Press).